


ECHO

by Momadin



Category: HoloEN, Virtual Streamer Animated Characters
Genre: Angst, Character Study, Gen, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Songfic, ancient ones
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-18
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-13 23:42:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,232
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29534247
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Momadin/pseuds/Momadin
Summary: The clock stopped ticking forever agoHow long have I been up? I don't knowI can't get a grip, but I can't let goThere wasn't anything to hold onto, thoughShort story, shorter.HoloEN gets parts of the song ECHO assigned to them.
Kudos: 21





	1. Mori

**Author's Note:**

> So this idea came to me a bit before the whole hachama lore arc and when Youtube-kun recommended to me Hachama's ECHO cover.
> 
> I can't animate or draw for my life so I wrote it down instead.

_Why can't I see,  
Why can't I see  
All the colors  
That you see?_

_Please can I be_  
_Please can I be_  
_Colorful and free?_

\-------------------  


**Calli**

Time after time she led souls to the afterlife, one question was usually asked by the specter. 

"What is it like there?"

In where she stayed, it was dark. Nothing like the world above. The only color that would seep in are the ethereal flames that licked at her ankles as she walked the empty halls of the underworld. 

"It's fucking awesome."

'Cause what else can you tell someone who lost all their shit in the fire as they say. The afterlife fucking sucks? Hell no. But to tell the truth, it kinda does. It is the same deal day in and day out. Same ol' scythe swinging duties. Same damn list, even if it had different names. 

Except for one Takanashi Kiara.

Whenever that name popped up, all of the underworld let out a groan. Wanna know why? 'Cause for a few hours, days, maybe even weeks, the silence of the underworld was broken by not only a bird call and flames but also chatter. Endless chatter. It was as if she was trying to fill the silence up herself. 

Not that the underworld is silent now; but back in the day, it was.

"Mori, I'm assigning you to a new position for a while." When Death-sensei, your boss, tells you that, a few things come to mind. Like "oh yay, a promotion!" or "oh no, did I do something wrong?" Well, your boy here was exactly the same. 

"But Death-sensei, I've been doing so well in my scythe-swinging lessons lately." Apparently, it was cause of that that the reassignment was needed.

"You'll be handling letting the souls from dimension 1 come in." Death-sensei's instructions were clear. One tiny minor detail he did mention though was that dimension 1 was…. in the middle of a fucking war, and the first one that came through (and the only one at that time) was bird that was about as tall as a small child. Now, at around this time, Calli was also a tiny calli. So seeing a bird, much less a bird on fire that was in a very different color than the usual fire all around was one of the most amazing things at that time. All the f-ing colors, man.

And of course, being the young impressionable reaper that young Calli was, every story and tale that the bird talked about, the beauty of the world above so to speak was in fact, very vivid and colorful. And to the young reaper, it seemed.almost unfair that she was stuck in the underworld while the bird eventually was reborn, leaving through a different gate from where she came. 

What else was there to do? The young reaper worked hard to earn the chance of being the one to go to the overworld and escort the souls to the underworld. River and all that stuff. And one day, it was exactly what she got.

"Mori, you're heading up." The excitement filled the young reaper at the chance to see how the world above was like. The color, the vibrancy. The thought of how the cool wind would feel, of how the warmth of the sun would feel. All of it… for nothing.

Dimension 2. The dimension that the young Calliope Mori was sent to was as good as dead. Some catastrophic explosion. Be it the sun or something else. There was nothing left. All had become ash and ruin. 

It was then that something in the young reaper snapped.

_Why?_

Why wasn't she allowed to see the world when it was beautiful? Why wasn't she allowed to see the color that the phoenix has told her about? 

Why couldn't she just be free?

_Was it too much to ask?_


	2. Ninomae Ina'nis

_What the hell's going on?  
Can someone tell me please  
Why I'm switching faster than the channels on TV_

_I'm black, then I'm white  
No! Something isn't right!  
My enemy's invisible  
I don't know how to fight_

_The trembling fear  
Is more than I can take  
When I'm up against  
The echo in the mirror_

_ECHO…_

****

にのまえいなにす  
**Ninomae Ina'nis  
Our preistess. It is time. Wake up.**

Ina sat up, her eyes adjusting to the darkness of the room. 

Of her room. 

Whatever that was… it was nothing. At least that is what she told herself as she flicked the lights on. She winced as the light temporarily blinded her. She swore she even heard herself hiss; and at the corner of her eye, she almost missed dark tendrils sliding to the corner of her room, back to wherever it came from. 

No. Those were just shadows playing tricks on Ina's mind. Nothing more. 

And yet, at the corners of Ina's mind, she could just about hear the faint whispers of something she couldn't quite understand.

One thing Ina was definitely sure of. She won't be able to go back to bed anytime soon. 

She took a glance at the clock. 3am. Of course, it was. The witching hour.

Slowly but surely, she stood from her bed, making her way to the bathroom. If she was not going back to sleep, she might as well get some work done. 

Opening the faucet, she splashed some water on her face. It was cold but also refreshing. The squeak resounds in the quiet bathroom as she closed the faucet, reaching for a towel to dry her face. As she dried her face, she vouldn't help but let her mind wonder. 

What were those voices? Why were they calling for her? Why did they call her their priestess?

She looked up, only to have completely black irises stare back at her. Everything felt cold all at once as she saw the girl staring back at her. It was still Ina; but at the same time, it wasn't.

In front of her stood Ninomae Ina'nis with a telltale floating book and tentacles that hardly fit the mirror. 

**Priestess. Come to me. Come to us.**

_The voices._ They were back. That… that shouldn't be possible. And yet, it very much was.

Ina finally tore her gaze from the mirror, looking behind to check if there was any sign of a book or tentacles. When she saw none, she let out a sigh of relief, massaging her temples. 

_Leather._ Why was she feeling leather? She opened her eyes to see her hands gloved, then ungloved. Then gloved again. 

No, something isn't right….

**Ina'nis.**

The voices became louder, more insistent. And this time… it came from right in front of her. The mirror.

**Priestess. Come to me.**

Ina looked up from her trembling hands to the mirror. She wished she hadn't. In front of her was still her reflection but twisted. Black as if covered in some form of dye. Ink. And she was reaching out as if offering her hand to herself. 

**Our preistess. It is time. Wake up.**

Ina felt terrified but led at the same time. She reached out. Her ungloved hand, just barely touching the gloved hand of her reflection.

**Ninomae Ina'nis.**

Her name sounded as though her mind was an empty cave. The voices. The voice of the Ancient Ones echoed in her head.

にのまえいなにす


End file.
